Funny Moments:"I have no choice, I cast a Mordekeinen's Disjunction on the big, black magical ball in the center of the town...""Would you prefer to be in an oxygen-rich environment?""Captain Winter, I'm going to house your ass!" (Composite Longbow string breaks on first shot)To Richard: "Hey, do you realize we haven't moved more than 30ft. from where we started sixteen hours ago?""Jergal says it's your time to go!""Wow, you guys are REALLY pissing off the wizard now..."To Greg: "CAPTAIN WINTER HAS A SHADOWPEARL TOO! WHAT THE HELL!"

- Philip Slama

"Sex is like the death penalty. One outcome, multiple ways to carry it out," -Stephen Colbert.

"OMG I can't believe I just got censored on LC.net!!!111 IS ADOLFO SEEING THIS sh*t!!!" -TheWorldsGreatestWarrior.

The Invasion almost happenned the way I predicted. We were scouted by a powerful wizard (flying w/greater invisibility) and flights of vrocks (also greater invisibility). The Crimson Fleet sent in one of their smaller, fast attack ships to deploy special forces-yuan-ti sorcerers that disintegrated most of our harbor defenses. Then Greg dropped the hammer on us.

The Wizard dropped a Mordenkainen's Disjunction on our central defense tower-dropping all of our precast spells (glyphs and wards) and destroying plenty of magic items. Immediately after the "great disjunction", the barlugas teleported in-right on the top of that tower. 2 KRACKENS came in to tear down the last of our harbor defenses while 3 ships sailed in. We were attacked by land on 2 sides-pirates and flesh golems. Then came 2 flights of vrocks. Finally, the HEAVY hitters showed up..the half-fiend captains, the yuan-ti sorcerers, and an overly powerful iconic evil mercenary..it was not a pretty fight.

Doubling the HP and playing up 4 levels is a bit much. If the game hadn't run so late it would have been a TPK. Warduke was a death god and that captain pretty much could not be hit. Then you toss in all the free heals, a couple broken artifacts and some candyland rules it was pretty much over at the end as we were out of gas. We already had 2 deaths and many other close calls.

you 14 now?

I have to say when Rob blew himself up that was comical but pretty much useless as it only did 18 damage to a 650 hp mobs.

Ah, but throughout the entire session people were placed in peril and escaped...barely. And they had fun (at least I did once I realized I was still effective without any magical gear).

What you did with the cards is nothing new to us. We did the same thing when we were stuck in Undermountain and, through our own stupidity, were trapped in the Druid's Grove with the Malorites who whooped our ass.

I enjoyed the hell out of the session, even though my gear is now masterwork quality and no longer magic.

What was the most critical action was yours at the end where you WASTED Vanthis with your 320 points of damage. That triggered the Captain's action to smash a "second" shadow pearl.

SPOILER: There was no second shadow pearl.

Greg wanted to see how we were going to deal with it and it was dealt with (which was why I told Ramon to prep an additional Dimension Door spell) because he told me and others that if it was used we had X rounds to do something with it. Please note that he was more than generous with letting us move the Resilient Sphere that Ramon cast around it (technically you can't move one according to the description) but I wasn't going to say anything if Greg allowed it.

I have no problem with the way things turned out in the end (even though I call bullshit on the Captain's AC, but he is a primary plot point and we have to face him in Scuttlecove when we attack THEM). Remember this campaign goes to 20th level but from levels 15th through 20th we have do decide where to send our characters because at that point there will be two teams operating and we will switch off every few weeks.

What happened on Sunday was what I expected from Greg and was vaguely reminiscent of our fight against a 17th level Wizard, 17th level Cleric, 17th level Druid and a 20th level Mummy Lord. Please note we all survived because we were able to think quickly on our feet and got the three 17th level characters to fight the 20th level Mummy Lord and they ignored us because we were not a significant threat and allowed us to escape with the shard.

It is also similar to the "Chimichunga" spider fight. That was a breakneck fight where the seven of us had to break INTO a museum and save the councilors of Waterdeep from a Lolth spider cult after we helped them complete their goals (Ramon said it was a trap because he was paranoid, we told him to f*ck off, he was right). The fight was RIDICULOUS! There were over 40 spider swarms, the HUGE "Chimichunga" covering the councilors, twelve large spiders, an 8th level Hexblade, an 8th level Wizard, and 8th level Expert and a 7th level Druid as well.

We were 5th and 4th level.

We won with no casualties and some fucked up rules against us (did you know you can't dimension door through glass steel? I didn't and the material doesn't say it. He did it to make us actually fight the combat instead of winking in and winking out. Instead we attacked from three entry points: the Roof, the Main Entrance and the Side Entrance. It worked like a charm and we saved the day and the councilors.

The game we play with Greg is one of ESCALATION. We grow in power and stupid crack feats and spells and he responds in kind by jacking up his NPCs and Monsters with illegal abilities, hit points and non-existent gear to f*ck with us.

Do we bitch? Once in a while (i.e. the Disjunction), but mostly we go with it because this is WHAT WE WANT TO PLAY. That's why were so psyched about playing the "homegame" because it was EPIC the first time around and it is EPIC now!

All I've got to say is I love it and I'm going to reclaim a part of my gear on Sunday but I'm still going to be a death machine (minus 3 points of damage per shot and +3 to hit). But your spells keep me a damage dealer when they are up and when they aren't I'm still more effective with damage then anyone else. Because of the 5000 experience I hit 14th level and Ramon 13th.

I got "Aligned" as my planar ability so no one is gong to "Blasphemy" me out of the game or use other "alignment based spells" on my ass like Forbiddence or other crazy sh*t. I also got my Dimension Door ability so I've got EXTREME movement now! I can also take people places like the Cleric to save a dying comrade, help people ESCAPE from forcecages (they suck against me) and save people from other damaging "lingering" area effect spells like Acid Fog or Mind Fog.

The game is going to take on a whole new level and now when we fight the Green Dragon and the other "Major" creatures on the Isle of Dread we've got a whole new character delivery system, get out of jail free card and tactical advantage against the enemy! If I can get a "Fly" spell during combat with a haste I'll be Death on Two Legs again when it comes to attacking from range (and escaping the beatdown that comes with it) I can attack from above again and take "Plunging Shot" as my next feat for 1d5 more damage!

Like I said previously I am LOVING this!

- Philip Slama

"Sex is like the death penalty. One outcome, multiple ways to carry it out," -Stephen Colbert.

"OMG I can't believe I just got censored on LC.net!!!111 IS ADOLFO SEEING THIS sh*t!!!" -TheWorldsGreatestWarrior.

What was I supposed to do against 2 mobs of barlugua? My animated shield was toast, I botched the cannon shot, and I was mauled down to 4 out of 132 hit points? I could have jumped off the tower and taken 5d6 falling damage and probably died, or if I didn't die, Greg would have the barluguas swarm and teleport me away. I could have stayed on the tower and been torn apart for another 125 odd points of damage. Or, I could set off the remaining powder and hopefully take a few of them with me. The damage should have taken out the swarms-Greg powned me for 95 hit points from 1 keg of powder and an exploding cannonball previously. Great AO protect us.